New York lawmakers learned more about one of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget proposals that many have viewed skeptically as an effort to stall a universal child care plan: a New York Coalition for Childcare. The body would be made up of business leaders, labor unions, tax and revenue experts, and child care providers.

Critics question the need for the panel when the state’s Child Care Availability Task Force already made recommendations, and a roadmap to universal child care exists.

DaMia Harris-Madden, newly confirmed commissioner of the state Office of Children and Family Services, took the opportunity Wednesday to make the case to lawmakers that the group would build on the work of the task force, and is a necessary step in mapping out a plan for how to pay for universal child care.

"If we create this system, we need to have fund development, research, and all of the fixings that will lend to the protection of the system,” she said. “We are leveraging the expertise of these experts to help us figure out how to fund this initiative, how we will continue to expand and grow the child care spaces, and support the workforce at the same time.”

State Sen. Jabari Brisport, who chairs the Senate Children and Families Committee, dismissed the proposal for a coalition as redundant.

“There was already a child care availability task force, there is already a roadmap to universal child care. I think the governor is using this new group to develop funding strategies but I think the answer is simple: tax the rich,” he said.

Lawmakers questioned Harris-Madden specifically on workforce development issues, which they say the governor hasn’t taken meaningful action on.

Despite the promise to look into workforce development through the coalition, and the inclusion of an initiative to create a child care substitute pool in her executive budget, Brisport and other lawmakers plan to urge Senate and Assembly leadership to move ahead with funding for a permanent workforce development fund in their one-house budgets.

“We’re going to be laser focused on the workforce,” he said. “Trying to get $1.2 billion for this permanent fund.”

At the hearing, state Assemblymember Sarah Clark, who is among those who aren't sold on the need for a coalition and will be pushing for the $1.2 billion on the Assembly side, told Harris-Madden that if the coalition comes to be, it must prioritize coming up with a permanent revenue stream in the next year.

“I feel like we’ve been told for six years in various reports that this is what we need. Why not do it one more time this year and then use the year to get to the point where we have a permanent source to fund that?” she asked the commissioner.   

Republican state Sen. Rob Rollison emphasized that any longterm solution must provide compensation that encourages retention to ensure a longterm solution.

“This is good and worthwhile work that needs to be compensated at a level where people can stay in that position,” he said. “We know recruitment and retention is directly related to the pay. These are people who are working with our children.”

In establishing a funding strategy, Harris-Madden stressed that the coalition plans to draw input from multiple angles, one of those being business leaders.

“I don’t see how we can get this done without the private sector’s input and the governor is fully aware that we’re going to need a multidisciplinary team,” she said.

Some lawmakers, like Republican Assemblymember Brian Maher, have long pushed for solutions that consider the business side of running a child care center even if the longterm push is for a universal system.

“We’re still going to need child care facilities to be run and operated, so there is still going to need to be a successful business model that exists that supports the industry itself,” he said.

Brisport and others are reluctant to involve business leaders in a conversation they say should be heading in the opposite direction.

“Some people want to push child care into an employer benefit like our broken health care system which nobody likes,” he said. “I and many people are saying it should be moved in the direction of our school system. A public good that is good for everyone and entitled to everyone like a universal system.”